Rochester

iTrader: (9)

The suspension noise is the upper mounts on both rear dampers, although the passenger side is obviously more noticeable than the drivers side. The dampers themselves are fine (Yay!). However, while on the lift, the mechanic pointed out the inner edge wear on my front PSS has come to a dangerous point. He's right, and I made the judgement in the Spring to ride these tires all season. Except that now I'm seeing the bands on the inner wear spots. Uh oh.

Other than that diagnosis, he went over the car while he had it. Took a test drive, inspected the exhaust, brakes, steering and suspension. Nothing was an issue (except the damper mounts).

So since there are still two full months of driving left before I put on my snows, I've got a new short-term schedule for the car, spread out over the next 3 or 4 months.

• Buy two new Conti's from Tire Rack.
• Have them swapped on my front Vossens at a local shop.
• Get a new alignment; the mechanic is blaming excessive toe for the wear, not the camber. I disagree, but whatever... it's been a while, and getting the car realigned is not a bad thing.
• Buy two rear OEM damper mounts from somewhere online.
• Have the shop swap the mounts.

That will lead me into Spring of 2018, where I'll have been putting a few hundred here and there away for a dyno tune.

Lego_Maniac

iTrader: (3)

Does this mean your mechanic is answering your calls again

Quick suggestion, when you get your alignment have them index the bolts with a spot of paint. You can at least visually inspect to see if anything changed or is otherwise out of whack

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

No. New shop. It's the Street/Pro place that hosted the C&C last month. They were extremely professional, with a fine waiting area, coffee, snacks, big screen playing Top Gear on Netflix. The owner greeted me, and the mechanic was very professional. They charged me one hour labor for the morning, which they'll comp once I have them do the mount swap, which they listed at 2.5 hours. So all in all, very fair and very pleasant.

I really should do this myself, and I still might if I get so motivated. But I also place a high value on paying for someone else's expertise and tools.

That's a great idea. Let's see if I can remember that ask.

The pragmatic side of me, the one which is a slave to the family budget, is thinking I could probably install the duckfeet & snows now, two months early. It's not like I drive the car a lot anyway. That would allow me to offset this tire purchase like I was planning, which was March/April.

Sucks thinking of driving around on snows for the whole months of October and November.

NealP

I feel ya. Starting to get cold here in MA but I'm going to keep my PSS' on as long as I (safely) can!

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

New plans. Which, sadly, mean I'm going to have to put my snows on now, two months early. (heavy sigh)

Oct - Purchase Rear Damper mounts and bushings
Nov - Install said mounts and bushings
Dec - Four wheel alignment
Jan - TBW undercarriage tray (happy birthday)
Feb - two new Conti's for the front
Mar - new york inspection and Conti's mounted on Vossens
Apr - Fluid swaps: brake, tranny, clutch, coolant
May - Dyno Tune

STownSaint

You get long-tube intakes yet?

Imagine it would be mostly for looks (and maybe sound), but could keep that engine bay from getting stagnant (just a thought).

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

No. The original plan was to go half-term on ownership with the R2C Intakes, then go long tube (Takeda) on the back half. But the year prior I spent some money on those expensive (and pointless) Black Hex Filters, so I'd like to get a few more years out of them.

You would think before getting dyno-tuned next year, that I'd swap intakes. But you know, I honestly don't care. I'm less motivated by 2-3 hp than I am by the looks, and the R2C is gorgeous in Black Nickle. If the finish starts to flake or wear, then maybe that will change things up.

I'm not saying I'm not going to do it, but I'm not not-saying that either.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

This thing about my front PSS has forced my hand, and made me clean my duckfeet in prep for putting my winters on now, ahead of schedule. So I cleaned, stripped and waxed them over the last few days.

This will be the 5th season for the Bridgestone Blizzak LM-60 in the front, and the second season for the Michelin X-Ice in the rear. Still plenty of tread depth in the front, although that inner edge camber wear is here, too, just nothing to worry about the way it's worn in with snow tread. I know "five seasons" might seem like a lot, but that's really only about 8k miles max.



The wheels themselves are 99%, with only a few small scatches. No curb rash, nothing bent, and the finish is still good. I have some regrets about never taking care of the inner lip, (because it looks like crap and will never clean), but it's pretty easy to ignore with the design of these Enkie's. I don't have that luxury with the Vossens, because of their deep outer lip.

And now I need to go clean up the wheel spacers that I use in the winter. Yuck.

2GoRNot2G

iTrader: (5)

Glad you were finally able to determine the source of your noise. Its pretty rare for upper shock mounts to fail so soon, but it does happen. At least its not going to be an overly costly fix.


Your mechanic is probably spot on in his assumption that your excessive tire wear is due to toe and not camber. I sold tires for 8 years and contrary to what you might think camber has VERY little affect on tire wear. Most tire wear is due to improper toe settings. You camber would have to be WAY off for it to create excessive tire wear.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

An-n-nd here I am, early with the snows. I feel like I'm driving the car under the radar now, with a Cloak of Sameness blending me into traffic.

No I'm just kidding, because I still haven't driven the car since last Monday morning, when I saw how bad the passenger side front tire was.

Goonz

iTrader: (9)

Pity you couldn't leave your summers on just a tad bit longer. Have you tried contacting Michelin? Assuming you registered your tires in their website, they may be able to offer you a deal perhaps on a new set of PSS, especially if you are going with another brand. Just a thought, wouldn't hurt to ask right?

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

Nah, I'm good with the plan. Thanks anyway, Goonz. I don't see Michelin as having any responsibility in this matter, it's all on me.

If I go back and add up the summer intervals, I still got 15K out of the fronts. You can't really expect more than that. A few thousand more, tops.

Plus, now that they're on, they're staying on for the duration. Carrying the wheels & tires from the basement to the garage and back again, and swapping each corner one at a time, each with 15mm wheel spacer adapters for the winter (meaning 3 different sets of lug nuts)... that's a whole freaking afternoon. And it's not one that's good for these old bones. At least, it doesn't feel good the day after, LOL.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

There's a solid 4mm tread depth remaining throughout, which would easily carry these tires through one more season. However, well... there'e the obvious fail here. You'd think I would know this was happening, but inside-edge problems easily run under the radar.

Meh. I have no excuse, and am just glad I never blew out this tire.

Going in for an alignment next Monday morning. Buying new Conti's for the fronts after the upcoming Winter is over.

4DRZ

iTrader: (7)

Wow! Cords and everything. Were they starting to make a lot of noise? I am curious to see which alignment specs were off.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

I'm not aware of any extra noise, but I also don't have a regular routine with the car where I'd notice it, and if there were it would have crept up on me anyway.

Also super curious about the alignment. Looking back at the last one (which was two years and 12,000 miles ago, the left front was -1.9* and the right front was only -1.1*. Yet it was the right front tire which got shredded, so I can only assume toe got knocked out of whack somewhere along the line, but I really won't know until next week. (Had to reschedule tomorrow morning into next week because of work.)

The is the first time in my life that I've had this kind of deep wear on a tire, ever. It's kind of unnerving, thinking how I drove nearly 400 miles and back for the G37 Meet-up last August. Or maybe all those highway miles, while out of alignment, is what did the tire in. Either way, it's a wake-up call to keep a weather eye on the inner edge of the tires on my car.